Experimental realization of a Mode-locked parabolic Raman fiber oscillator

We report here the first demonstration of a mode-locked fiber laser delivering parabolic pulses (similaritons) at 1534 nm. The use of a Raman-based gain medium potentially allows its implementation at any wavelength. The 22nJ output similariton pulses have a true parabolic shape both in the time and spectral domains and a linear chirp. Linear recompression close to Fourier limit is demonstrated allowing us to obtain 6 ps compressed pulses with a compression factor of 75. (C) 2010 Optical Society of America